Residential Air Conditioning Checklist

General Items

  • Thermostat turned on?
  • Thermostat temperature setting low enough?
  • A/C circuit breakers turned on?
  • Outdoor unit safety switch turned on?

Indoor Blower Not On

  • Check “general items”
  • If your furnace is also part of your air conditioning, is there a switch on the basement stairway or next to the heater?
  • If your furnace is also part of your air conditioning, is the blower door on securely?

Outdoor Unit Not On

  • Check “general items”

Outdoor Unit Running – Pipes are frozen, no cooling

  • Dirty indoor filters may have caused unit to freeze up. Change filters and run system in fan only  mode for about 1 hour.  Then switch back to cooling.
  • Blocked air return may have caused unit to freeze up. Remove obstruction and run system in fan only  mode for about 1 hour.  Then switch back to cooling.
  • Low refrigerant – if the above procedures do not solve the problem, the freeze-up    may be caused by low refrigerant.  Please call for service.

It’s 100°F Outside – I can’t get my house below 80°F

  • Most systems are only designed to create a 20°F difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures.  If you can get your house down to 75°F on a 95°F day, your system is working properly.

Residential Heating Checklist

General Items

  • Thermostat turned on?
  • Thermostat temperature setting high enough?
  • Furnace/heating circuit breakers turned on?
  • Heating emergency switches turned on?
  • Gas service turned on?  …. or fuel oil in tank?

Indoor Blower Not On

  • Check “general items”
  • If your warm air furnace is in your basement or crawl space, is there a switch on the basement stairway?
  • If you have a furnace, is the blower door on securely?

Furnace Running – Inadequate Heat

  • Dirty indoor filters may have cause low airflow and low heat output. Change filters.
  • Blocked air return may cause low airflow and low heat output. Remove obstruction and run system.

It’s 0°F Outside – I can’t get my house above 70°F

  • Most systems are only designed to create a 70°F difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures.  If you can get your house up to 70°F on a 0°F day, your system is working properly.  High winter winds can affect the time it takes to reach your desired temperature.

Gas Smell – Call utility and/or Bovio’s immediately for service.

  • DO NOT light any open flames, DO NOT turn anything electrical either ON or OFF.
  • If smell is strong and present throughout house, vacate and wait for help.
  • When in doubt, play it safe.

Heat Pump Systems

  • Why do I occasionally see ice on the outdoor unit coils?
  • This is a normal function of a heat pump system.
  • Under certain conditions I see a plume of vapor rising from the outdoor unit, why is this so?
  • This is caused under certain conditions when the unit goes into a defrost cycle, and is completely normal.